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It can be overwhelming to do laundry for an entire household, especially if your family is on the larger side. We always say we’re committed to making you enjoy laundry day, and the same goes for our Rockin’ Green families with 5+ members! Tackle the terrible twos and the mountains of laundry with these 6 laundry hacks for large families.
Do One Load a Day
The first major mistake people make is trying to do everyone’s laundry at once. Everyone talks about laundry day but having a single day of the week for laundry just isn’t practical when you’ve got a lot of people to account for. Try doing a load of laundry every day.
Assign each member of your family to a day of the week that will be their personal laundry day. Cut down on load sizes and wash time each day while also helping keep each person’s clothes separate. Say goodbye to sibling arguments over mixed up items!
Get Your Kids Involved
Stop shouldering all the work! Even if your kids are younger, there are small ways you can get them involved with the laundry routine. Start by letting them watch you do everything and slowly transition into letting them do things while you watch.
Your little ones can start by helping put the detergent in the washer or taking the clothes out of the dryer. Give them ownership of their clothing by making sure they know they’re responsible for getting their clothes to the laundry room on their wash day! They’ll start to fall into a routine and help take the load off of you.
If It’s Not Dirty Don’t Wash It
Just because you wore that one shirt to the grocery store doesn’t mean it's necessarily dirty and in need of an urgent wash. Get in the habit of re-wearing items a few times before throwing them in the wash to help cut down on buildup of laundry.
If your kids have a favorite set of PJs, let them sleep in them for a few nights before immediately crediting them as dirty. Washing items at a lower frequency helps them last longer and your family cut down on water and energy costs!
Stop Sorting by Color
I know, I know. This contradicts everything you’ve ever heard about doing laundry. But sorting can take up a lot of time and with the way machines and most detergents work today, it’s kind of unnecessary for every day, cotton fabrics. Obviously, if you have special items or clothing that’s made with specialty fabrics, you’re going to want to wash those separately. However, for most laundry, you can get away without the pesky sorting process.
If your kids are older or handle the basic laundry routine like pros, you could start having them sort their own clothes and come to the laundry room prepared. This does mean you’ll have to do multiple loads per kid, but if you’re a stickler for the sorting rules it’s an option to consider.
Simplify Socks
We’re all a little too familiar with the horrors of lost socks. You spend time looking for pairs only to realize one has gotten lost somewhere and then you’re left with mismatched socks. This is something everyone could put into practice but comes in handy with large families in particular.
Buy all socks in a single solid color for all your kids in the same size. Trust us. It’s a life saver. You don’t have to spend time looking for matches if you lose one, the single left can be used with any of the other socks you have left!
Minimize Your Closets
The best way to cut down on the piles of laundry? Have less clothes. It seems simple, but cleaning out everyone’s closet can be a task. Let your kids go through them first, choosing things to be donated or recycled, and if they’re struggling to part with things, help them make decisions based on how often they actually wear certain items.
Cutting down on the amount of clothes everyone has can make a huge difference in the amount of time you spend on laundry and help you cut down on the amount of energy you use!
You’re equipped with some helpful laundry hacks for large families, but we didn’t stop there. Check out our big checklist of all the other ways you can get your kids to help around the house!
